326 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



certained Ihat the beet-root yields more saccliarine, 

 the basis of alcohol, in the winter months than in 

 either the autumn or sprin<j. M. Champonnois in his 

 statement shows it to vary from 13.50 to 18.25 gallons 

 to the ton of roots, or from 3,13 to 4.G4 per cent. The 

 quantity yielded is also affected by climate, being less 

 in a low than in a high latitude. The pulp or resi- 

 due, which is valuable for feeding cattle, sheep, and 

 pigs, amounts to from 70 to 80 per cent., and is sold 

 at lOs. or 12s. per ton, being considered quite equal in 

 value, if not superior, to the raw beet-root, taking 

 weight for weight. 



With regard to the quality of the spirit extracted, 

 M. Champonnois has not yet, any more than his pre- 

 decessors, found means of divesting it of the flavour of 

 the beet-root, which must prove a serious objection 

 when the spirit is brought into competition with that 

 distilled from grain. If this, in future, cannot be over- 

 come, it will of itself form a serious drawback on the 

 value of the article, which could never come into the 

 market upon equal terms with malt spirit from grain. 



There can be no doubt that M. Champonnois's pro . 

 cess of distilling is far superior to any previously in 

 use; and the best proof of this is, that there are 

 already in France 200 distilleries working upon it, and 

 the testimony of many eminent men, both scientific 

 and practical, is most decidedly in its favour. AVhilst, 

 therefore, the French agriculturists find it to their in- 

 terest, in a pecuniary point of view, to multiply their 

 establishments, it becomes a question of importance 

 how far the same system would be advantageous to the 

 agricultural interests of the United Kingdom. 



There are three points of view in which we are led 

 to look at this question in order to arrive at a just 

 and impartial judgment. First, what efiect would the 

 change from a purely agricultural to a semi-commercial 

 character have upon the British farmer generally ? 

 Secondly, would the profit accruing from the sys- 

 tem indemnify the farmer for the changes in the mode 

 of agriculture now practised, that would necessarily 

 ensue from its adoption? And thirdly, would any 

 amount of immediate profit from it be an adequate 

 equivalent for the destructive moral and social effects 

 of deluging the country, by means of distilleries, with 

 ardent spirits, when the people are already too much 

 addicted to their use ? 



First, with respect to the commercial spirit and 

 character the system would impart to the British 

 farmers, we firmly believe it would be injurious if not 

 destructive to that spirit of enterprise for which they 

 are now so distinguished, and that it would materially 

 interfere with those grand improvements now in pro- 

 cess of maturing in this country, and which require 

 both the entire capital and the undivided attention of 

 the body of agriculturists. Far from having reached 

 the summit of perfection either in the application of 

 machinery or in the amount of production, wo are 

 looking for the reduction of the expenses of the farm, 

 on the one hand, to half their present amount, and on 

 the other, to an illimitable increase in the productive 

 powers of the Boil by the application of science. 



These things will demand, we say, the undivided 

 attention of the British farmer, whose position is 

 widely different from that of the Continental 

 farmer, who is cramped as well by want of capital 

 as by fiscal regulations, and the absence of that 

 civil and political freedom, which is the very soul of 

 enterprise. 



We could enlarge upon this subject, but want of room 

 compels us to come to the second question, which is 

 purely commercial; and notwithstanding the flattering 

 prospects of gain from the system, held out by the 

 projectors, we do not believe that any amount of profit 

 upon the distillation of beetroot, as an appendage to 

 the farm, would be sufficient to indemnify the farmer 

 for the injury that would accrue from the withdrawal 

 of capital from the land, tlie division of the time and 

 attention between the two incongruous objects, and the 

 changes in the common routine of the fann, that would 

 necessarily take place. We would warn the farmer, 

 too, that should the system become general it would so 

 reduce the price of spirits as to render it wholly unpro- 

 fitable ; and we feel convinced that before many years 

 would elapse, the greater part of the distilleries would 

 be shut up, unless (which would be a still greater evil) 

 consumption of spirit should be so much increased as 

 to keep pace with the production, which the adoption 

 of the system to the extent M. Champonnois contem- 

 plates would involve. 



The third question is wholly of a moral and social 

 nature ; but we view it as the most important of all. 

 We have only to look at the deleterious effect of the use 

 of ardent spirits at present, in this country, and espe- 

 cially in our large towns, to form some faint judgment 

 of what would ensue from the establishment of one or 

 more distilleries in every parish in the kingdom. We 

 have the testimony of almost every judge and magis- 

 trate in the country that the vice of drinking is the 

 direct cause of at least three-fourths of the crimes that 

 are committed ; and that, if a reformation in tiiis re- 

 spect could be effected, the prisons and police courts 

 would be shut up. What then would be the effect 

 upon the moral and social condition of the rural popu- 

 lations by the extension of the system urged upon us by 

 M. Champonnois ? We can answer this question by a 

 reference to the condition of Austria, where the sys- 

 tem has been carried out by the landed interest, and 

 where 10,000 distilleries are now at work. An ej'e- 

 witness assures us that the temptations and facilities 

 afforded by the diffusion of these establishments over 

 the country have produced the most alarming conse- 

 quences upon the entire rural population: ^^ As for 

 the moral atid phrjsical effects of this immoderate 

 use of spirits, they speak for themselves, and Galicia 

 affords an example of these, that deserves to be 

 studied, haviny been fully exposed and brought to 

 light iTi the publications of temjyerance societies, which 

 have undertaken to contend against the immoderate 

 use of alcoholic drinks."* 

 This testimony is from a Frenchman, when speaking 



* Eugene Marie. 



